Stanford vs. Notre Dame: Game Grades, Analysis for the Fighting Irish

In yet another thriller against Stanford, Notre Dame used a late field goal and very late touchdown to come from behind and remain undefeated.

The Irish are now squarely in the College Football Playoff conversation, but there's still plenty to work on moving forward. We'll break it all down in our Notre Dame game grades, following a 17-14 Irish victory over Stanford.

Box score via NCAA.com.

Positional Unit	First-Half Grade	Final Grade
Pass Offense	B-	B+
Run Offense	B	B+
Pass Defense	B	B
Run Defense	A-	A
Special Teams	C	D+
Coaching	B+	A-

Pass Offense

After a first half that saw Everett Golson turn the ball over twice—once via an interception—we weren't quite sure how things would turn out. Despite having 101 passing yards and a touchdown through the air in the first half, the Irish were still locked in a 7-7 tie.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The second half, particularly late, is what turned things around. Golson finished 20-of-43 passing for 241 yards and two touchdowns—the last one coming with a minute left to give the Irish the game.

Oh, yeah. It was on fourth down, too.

Chris Brown and Corey Robinson each had four receptions for 60 and 46 yards, respectively.

Run Offense

This was probably the most surprising aspect for Notre Dame. We know the Irish are capable of running the football, but against Stanford, we didn't expect 129 yards on 32 attempts.

The Irish averaged over six yards per carry in the first half and finished with an average of four yards per carry against a Cardinal defense that has traditionally been very good against the run.

Pass Defense

The Fighting Irish pass defense had a lot going its way today. The blustery, cold and rainy conditions limited passing, and receivers were hard-pressed to catch the football on both sides.

The Irish secondary limited Kevin Hogan to 18-of-36 passing for 158 yards, no touchdowns and two picks.  

The biggest play came on the last play of the game, however, as the pass rush forced Hogan to ground the ball, resulting in a 10-second run-off with only six seconds showing on the clock. That's worth some extra credit, don't you think?

Run Defense

Stanford's only touchdowns on the day came on the ground, and it was Hogan who scrambled for one of them. Beyond that, the Irish limited Stanford to just 63 yards on 31 attempts.

Remound Wright led all Cardinal rushers with just 29 yards, 11 of which came on his touchdown run.

It doesn't matter who you are, that's a solid day of defending the run.

Special Teams

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Here's the ugly part of the Irish's performance today. The Irish were 1-of-3 on field goals, and both of the misses were due to bad holds (after pretty decent snaps, too).

Sure, the weather affected a lot, and we can't pin much, or really any, of this on kicker Kyle Brindza, but given the pitiful performance, the Irish are lucky to escape with a passing D+ here.

Coaching

Brian Kelly continues to do anything and everything to find ways to win football games.

Just when it looked dire for the Irish, Kelly put the game in the hands of his junior quarterback and let him loft up a pass on 4th-and-long into the end zone. Result? Notre Dame wins.

Kelly and his staff developed the perfect game plan to defeat a very good Stanford club, and despite some miscues both on offense and special teams, Kelly's squad was prepared well enough to pull out the win.

Unless otherwise noted, quotes or references to quotes were obtained firsthand by the writer.

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